Is the Machine Using us?

Perhaps it is naive of me to say this, but I actually believe that the machine is something that is still used by all of us. It was originally created just to ease certain tasks, but eventually, like all things do, it progressed and went through its own period of evolution. In fact, it still continues to today and always will be. The progressions were designd so as to simplify our daily tasks. It is hard to imagine getting through the day without the use of these, at least for me. It is not me that the machine needs, I am the one that will always be using the machine for my own benefit.

At&t Commercial- Flash Mob

As soon as the clock turns to twelve o' clock in the afternoon, the main character of this commercial rips off his jacket in the middle of Grand Central Station and breaks into dance. However, it is at this point that other members of a flash mob would jump in and do their part to contribute to the dance. The only thing, which the audience finds out later in the commercial, is that the time to start the flash mob had been changed to a later time. The question that strikes most, or what should strike most, is; why did this man not receive the memo? The answer, of course, is that he did not have at&t and therefore had a slow connection which informed him minutes too late.
The simple fact that he did not have at&t left him embarrassed and "the last to know," as the commercial put it. The idea behind the commercial is clear, in that case. If you do not want to risk embarrassing yourself or be the last to know when it is important to know as soon as possible, you should have at&t. It was depicted well, because while it was humorous, which was the aspect that grabbed and held my attention, it displays just one of the cons to not having at&t.

Pantene Commercial

The street performer can sense the girl's eyes on him and, without question, he begins signing to her as if they have always known eachother. Perhaps it is because he can feel her sadness as well as he seems to feel his music. At first, the girl seems taken aback by this man's knowledge ofher situation, yet she responds. After all, this man has been one of the friendliest characters in her life since she took a liking to music. The two share a conversation on a doorstep in sign language as he explains to her that music is a visible thing; much like the conversation the two are holding. The girl develops a sense of comfort with this street musician whom she's always seen, but never known. IT is what allows her attitude towards the disadvantage she was presented with in regard to the music world alter. This encounter marks the beginning of ther transformation from the deaf girl who longs to play music, to the girl who can play music that shocks and brings an audience to its feet. It is due solely to this conversation which allows this deaf musician to shine.

My writing process- Freewrite

My writing process consists of me sitting at my computer staring blankly at the empty page in Microsoft Word. Realizing it has been a good ten or fifteen minutes without having written a thing, I will usually then put a header at the top of the page, just to make it look like i've made or am in the process of making progress. I'll sway away from the subject at hand and visit other sites, perhaps to gain some influence, but not really at all. It is otherwise known as procrastination. I'll click back to my word document repeatedly as if to see if some magical paper fairy has started off my paper with thejust  hook in the introductory sentence that I have been attempting to write myself. Of course, much to my dismay, there is still nothing written. I will usually then look at my clock, which is when I realize I have wasted a large majority of my time. Then I begin to type something. Probably the worst sentence anyone will probably ever read in his or her life, but it's something. Typically, if i'm lucky, I will continue to write based off of that first ridiculous sentence. I will read it over again, delete the first sentence, alter the second sentence to become more "first sentence" material, then finally, feeling somewhat content with what i've accomplished, I will finish my first draft, otherwise known as my sloppy copy.

Hansel and Gretel Commerical Response

       There is certainly some irony involved in this version of the Hansel and Gretel story. Of course, in order to somewhat hint to the audience that this young boy and this young girl were in fact the famous Hansel and Gretel, the two were dressed in the attire that most would traditionally associate with such characters. In otherwords, they were clad in clothing that is clearly from before the present. However, their surroundings were not those similar to their surroundings in the traditional stories. As opposed wandering around the dark and scary forest, they were walking in what looked like a city, much like New York City, but in this case, the city remains unknown and was perhaps unreal.
        Hansel and Gretel are very obviously aware that they will not be able to find their way back without some sort of assistance. They use the bread crumb trick in order to retrace their steps completely. What the audience knows before Hansel or Gretel find out is that almost immediately after being dropped, the bread crumbs have already disappeared by some means. Cleverly, they resort to their cell phone and continue on to skip happily home using the helpful yet speedy GPS system that At&t provides. We are left to believe that their story, much like all other renditions of the story, has a happy ending. What was the turning point in the advertisement which leads us to this assumption? The point where they pull out their cellphone and all their worries vanish. We are left feeling a sense of relief, whether we are aware of it or not and it is all contributed to the wonderful service that at&t provides.

Commercial Link

Flash Mob: At&t commercial

Heineken Commercial Analysis

Observation: men screaming and hugging when they see the room full of Heineken.

      They men's reactions are closely similar to those of the women. Of course, not for the same reason. The cause of the men's screaming, excitement, jumping, and hugging each other all in happiness is essentially beer. Not just beer, but beer in mass quantities, acting like the counter part of a woman's dream; mass quantities of shoes and clothes. The impression that is initially produced, is that something as simple as beer has the ability to make men that excited. After all, we also are under the impression that one of the men is recently moved, but yet the biggest accomplishment was gaining the walk-in refrigerator full of only Heineken.
     This situation of men acting like women gawking over shoes brings up certain questions. What is it exactly that is causing their drastic excitement? Is it just the beer alone, or having nothing to do with the type of beer, is it just the amount that is present? Finally, the conclustion that most people probably jump to is that the men are thrilled about how much of their favorite beer there is; Heineken. Clearly it is a favorite amongst four out of four men present in the advertisement, it must just be that good.

Hansel and Gretel AT&T commercial Questions

1. Where are they going?
2. What city are they in?
3. Where are their parents?
4. Why aren't they dressed in modern day clothing?
5. What does dropping the bread accomplish?
6. Why don't they just originally plan on using the GPS?
7. Who are these kids?

12 Heineken questions

1. Where were these people from?
2. were they at/having a party?
3. Are they new or old money?
4. Why is the woman showing her living space?
5. Are the other women her friends?
6. Did the man only show them his closet/refrigerator?
7. What does this commercial say about men and women?
8. Is the man showing the refrigerator married to the woman showing the closet?
9. How does the woman feel about the man's refrigerator?
10. Why aren't the women screaming about Heineken?
11. What station was broadcasting this commercial?
12. How does the similarities between the men and women's reactions contribute to the commercial?

Focus Freewrite 9/12

In more ways than not, I agree with what John Trimble says in regard to writers being much like warriors in that they're constantly "defending claims and fortifying arguments." In order for writers to be understood, in my humble opinion, they must explain why they've said what they said. In other words, I would believe a writer's ultimate goal is to help his or her audience gain an understanding or knowledge about the writer's story, statement, etc. With that in mind, it is crucial that the writer defends his or her claims and fortifies his or her argument. It is crucial also in the case that one reading might not agree with the writer and, to contribute to the metaphor, battle with the writer to prove a separate point or draw a separate conclusion. Last, and most importantly, if someone simply does not understand a writer's text, then presents another battle for the writer: to defend his off her points to reach a point of mutual understanding.

So here I am at Hofstra and I am blogging. Writing online makes me feel....

So here I am at Hofstra and I am blogging. Writing online makes me feel somewhat exposed. It is not something I partake in that often in regards to say posting a status or a tweet. I often find that there is not much I feel necessary saying which virtually anyone could see or have access to seeing. I feel insecure about the things I write and feel as if everyone in the world will read it, regardless of if close to no one will. I also put a lot of thought into the things that I say online. Therefore writing freely about anything that comes to mind  makes me feel especially exposed. This is because people are then reading the initial thoughts in my head, as opposed to the "thoughts" which I edit to be what I believe will be more socially accepted or understandable. This is most likely because the ideas and thoughts that go through my head are generally uninteresting and because I would not even be interested in reading anything I would have to say, I see no point in writing anything for anyone else to write! Of course, with a general subject to write about and shed my own personal opinion on, gives way to perhaps an interesting thread of thoughts I could write about! And that's all!